3 Tips For Maximizing Space In A Small Vegetable Garden

It seems there is never enough room for the things we would like to grow in the vegetable garden. For most home vegetable gardeners space is a valued commodity. I cannot remember all the times I have wanted to grow a certain vegetable, but did not have the room to grow it. This can get very frustrating. Here are three tips for maximizing your vegetable garden to get the most out of a small space.

Interplanting

Interplanting, or companion planting, has been around for a very long time. It is the practice of planting vegetables, herbs, and/or flowers together to maximize space, flavor, or pest control. Interplanting goes hand in hand with organic gardening as well, since it contributes to natural pest controls and increased crop yields.

One example of interplanting is the “Three Sisters Garden”. The Three Sisters Garden is the concept of planting one corn stalk, a squash plant, and a green bean vine per hill in the garden. The corn stalk grows tall allowing the green bean vine to grow up the stalk, while providing shade from the hot summer sun to the squash plant. In turn, the green bean vine provides nitrogen to the soil that the corn needs, and the squash plant provides ground cover to help keep weeds at bay. All three plants compliment one another and help each to thrive.

Vertical Gardening

Vertical gardening is just how it sounds – training your vegetable plants to grow vertically instead of laying on the ground. This strategy can save a lot of room if used consistently throughout the garden.

There are many vegetable plants in the garden that are vining plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, beans, and melons – just to name a few. Use a trellis when growing cucumbers, beans, peas, and some varieties of melons and pumpkins. Not only will the trellis save space by allowing the plants to grow up it, but keeping the vegetables off the ground will ensure healthier, better-producing plants.

Succession Planting

Another great strategy for saving room in a small garden is to use succession planting. Succession planting is the technique of sowing seeds or transplanting vegetables at periodic intervals.

By staggering the planting of certain vegetables, you will have a steady supply of harvested vegetables. This works exceptionally well for fast-growing vegetables such as radishes, spinach, turnips, and some beans. When one crop of these vegetables is harvested you can go right in the same spot and plant again. You can do this repeatedly throughout the growing season for a continual crop.

I'm in zone 8, southern oregon. I planted them early in the season with my lettuce and peas. and even now, our nights are upper 40's, days have been fairly mild – a few days of 90's, but otherwise the majority of the time we are 70's or 80's. I water every night, have straw around my plants to help retain moisture, although I did not put straw around the radishes.

Tammy, in hot weather I usually plant radishes in with my pole beans, or anything that will give some shade. Also when you work your soil for radishes, put a little 5-10-10 (about 1 quart per 100 square feet and mix it intothe top 2-3 inches. also you might want to sprinkle a handful of bone meal or superphospate (marked 0-20-0 on the bag) covering about 6-8 square feet of seedbed. it won't burn the seeds for it does not contain nitrogen..always remember phosphorus is inportant for any root crop. so this is an extra boost in the row and will promote steady, fast root growth. with this already in the row there will be no need to sidedress any root crop. also water 'DEEP" and not quiet as often. good luck with your radishes..also the white radishes grows deeper like a carrot and takes longer to mature.